The holidays of possibly tens of thousands of people were cast into doubt on Tuesday when the health minister insisted a quarantine of all entrants from nine countries including China -- its territories of Hong Kong and Macau -- Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan, would be imposed.
All other travellers from the four countries will have to"report on their health status daily", said Tanarak Plipat of the Disease Control Department, or risk"punishment" under the law. Speculation is pointing to a limited testing regime at a time when Thailand is determined not to frighten off tourists.
As a result the country's tourist-reliant economy has hit the skids, with the impact of Covid-19 crisis hacking back at already sluggish growth forecasts to as low as two percent this year.